It is often necessary to remove unwanted, unnecessary and/or interfering trees, stumps and vegetation from areas such as to the land adjacent to a public highway, a public utility right-of-way, agriculture land and forested land that must be cleared. Various machines are available to perform this task. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,992,483 and 5,823,238. Typically, these machines grind and mulch stumps, brush and logs up to a certain size, i.e. 8″ in length. The mulched wood can then be used in an environmentally friendly manner to either fill holes or scatter about the surrounding ground.
The known machines do not adequately address the problems presented by larger stumps and longer sections of trees (i.e. those greater than 8″ in length). Much of this material still has to be hauled away for burning or other disposal. Additionally, in many cases, longer lengths of wood have commercial value and can be transported to a wood processing facility. In either case, a significant amount of the wood that is cut is not suitable for mulching and therefore has to be picked up after it is cut, piled out of the way of the tree clearing operation and eventually transported from the site. Even limbs or smaller pieces that are eventually mulched often first must be retrieved from the immediate area being cleared before the mulching operation occurs.
Conventional tree grinding machines do not adequately retrieve, manipulate and pile fallen trees and limbs. Typically, a second machine, which may comprise a loader with a grapple mechanism, is employed to move the fallen trees that the grinder cannot mulch immediately. This tends to make the tree clearing operation inefficient, costly and time consuming. Added manpower and equipment costs can be substantial. If a machine breaks down or malfunctions, costly delays can result. Known stump grinders and tree clearing equipment do not adequately address these costs and inefficiencies.